C3 Panel Preview: Customer Input: Once You Start Using It, You Want to Use it Everywhere

Back in October when CallidusCloud acquired Clicktools, there was a lot written about how SURVE and the idea of customer feedback would change the Lead to Money concept. Customer feedback turns the process inside out, in a good way – it makes customer experience a concern that enfolds the internal processes and helps to make them better, driving behaviors and process changes that lead to longer customer lifespans and happier customers.
We’re also seeing SURVE used for a lot of other purposes – when you enable businesses to incorporate the customer’s input into their processes, it gets the creative juices flowing. Three examples of that will be on display next Tuesday at 3:10 at CallidusCloud Connections (C3) in a panel hosted by Clicktools CEO David Jackson. PHT Corp., Greenway Health and Orion Advisor Services all use feedback in their own unique ways to gain valuable customer input and to learn more about what they really want, be it better customer service, alterations to the sales process or a more personalized experience.Orion Advisor Services’ experience is a great case in point. Robin Danahy, sales administrator at the Omaha-based company, is on next week’s panel, and she says the company uses Clicktools to better understand the customer. That sets the stage for a much more personal and more streamlined interaction – which is more likely to result in a sale.
“As a sales organization selling a technology product, we do demos for our prospects,” Danahy said. “Our biggest challenge was getting enough information regarding the (customer) firm to do a meaningful demo. Most of the time, not enough was learned during the qualification call. This would cause longer demo sessions due to a need to ask more qualifying questions.” It could also lead to less meaningful demos for prospects, she added.
Using Clicktools, Orion created an advisor profile. “We send this after the qualification call to make sure we get all the needed details,” she said. “This has helped create better demos, which means a higher ratio of prospects moving to the next level.”
This informational survey was followed later by a satisfaction survey, she said. “From the advisor profile, we created a closed won survey to get feedback from those who chose to do business with us,” Danahy said.
That’s one of the happy side-effects of building customer feedback into your processes: once others in the business see the positive change that results from customer input, others in the organization want to use it, too. “Our operations team saw what we are doing and they automated their process for onboarding with Clicktools, which has created a lot of efficiencies for them.” Danahy is currently working with two sister companies to implement Clicktools in their operations as well.
You can learn more about Clicktools and its role in the Lead to Money concept at C3, where a slate of sessions with customers and thought leaders will share their experiences. Register today!

Chris Bucholtz is the content marketing director at CallidusCloud and writes on a host of topics, including sales, marketing and customer experience. The former editor of InsideCRM, his weekly column has run in CRM Buyer since 2009. When he's not pondering ways to acquire and keep customers, Chris is also an avid builder of scale model airplanes.